Thank you Netgalley and Harper Collins for providing me with a copy of this book.
This one follows our MC who seems to be telling a story of how she got into a counterfeit sales scheme to a detective and soon we understand the depth into which she has gone in this.
Honestly, it wasn’t that special, but I think this should really be consumed as an audiobook!

Easy breezy summer read.

Ever wonder about the counterfeit handbag business? Now is your chance. Ava and Winnie are former college roommates. When Ava reconnects with Winnie she is quickly drawn into Winnie’s counterfeit handbag business. When things come crashing down, Winnie disappears and Ava is left holding the bag. How

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#Counterfeit #Netgalley #bookstagram #booknerd #books #reading #readersofinstagram

Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen is an entertaining and insightful look at the counterfeit purse market.

Reese’s Book Club selected Counterfeit for her June pick and I think it was a fantastic selection! I’ve had the ARC for a while and I was waiting to read this one at the right time. Once I started it, I did not want to put this one down!

This novel covers many topics and it was especially interesting reading about the perspectives of the American Dream from these women. Ava seems to think doing everything by the book—go to the right college, pick the right career field, marry the right man—all guarantees her success. But of course, looks are deceiving and Ava is truly struggling.

All in all, I thought this was an engaging novel. The tone is great—kind of comedic and I can see that really playing out on TV well. There are surprising moments so it does keep you on your toes a bit.

Ava Wong is a Chinese American lawyer whose life seems perfect from the outside. Except, it isn’t. She has no career to speak of, her husband has no time for her, and her toddler is having tantrums she can’t manage. Into the mix comes Winnie Fang, Ava’s awkward college roommate from two decades ago, now transformed into a rich confident woman, who is looking to share her good fortune with Ava.

Again, everything is not as simple as it seems. Winnie is involved in a counterfeiting scheme of luxury handbags and wants Ava’s help in expanding her “business” in the US.

This book is both entertaining and sometimes thought-provoking. It offers interesting insights into the world of luxury handbag replicas that has phenomenally grown as an industry in China on the backs of forced or poorly paid labourers and also highlights the consumerism epidemic plaguing the world today.

Ava initially comes across as a one-dimensional character but shows great character development later on in the story and her struggles with parenting her difficult child made for convincing reading.

This story is fun, fast-paced, and has an unexpected twist at the end that adds to its charm but be warned that if missing quotation marks make your blood boil, then this book probably isn’t going to cut it for you.

“A bag is a bag is a bag, but only a Birkin is a Birkin.”

Thank you @harpercollinsca for this gifted arc, I enjoyed reading it!

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Ava has given up her career in law to be a wife and mother to her difficult son. She’s not fulfilled and is an easy target for her former roommate who is running a counterfeit handbag scheme. She’s a reluctant player. Or is she?

This was a fun, quick read with complicated relationships and unlikeable characters that kept me guessing. Definitely enjoyable.

Well this was a delightful book. It was clever, funny and held my attention. I will say I was glad I mainly listened to the audiobook because the few times I was reading the book the lack of quotation marks drove me BATTY. STOP DOING THAT.

"Counterfeit" is such a fun, fast-paced summer read featuring two women who buddy up to build a counterfeit handbag empire. Winnie and Ava used to be college roommates, and reconnect years later when Winnie invites her to join her international handbag grift. The story's first half is told from Ava's viewpoint in a police confessional. She mercilessly paints Winnie as manipulative and preying conwoman. Half way through, we flip to Ava's viewpoint and realize that certain key details were left out of Ava's account. This creates a new layer of suspicion towards both characters that isn't fully resolved until the very end. The relationship between the two protagonists was just as enticing to me as the plot, with wonderful moments of levity and humor. Highly recommended if you are in the mood for a smart page turner.

I love a low stakes thriller, and a long con involving counterfeit luxury handbags is the perfect subject for that.

Counterfeit is perfectly paced, loads of fun, and terrifically clever. I adore thrillers (particularly cons or heists) where I spend 3/4 of the book wondering “how are they ever going to get out of this?” and the last 1/4 laughing delightedly as that question is answered. Chen delivers beautifully in this regard. The conclusion is both wonderfully well-plotted and also the one you want as a reader.

The scam itself is fun too, and I learned a lot about the counterfeit luxury handbag industry. And beyond that, it’s a terrific story of friendship and of two women who, each dealt a different sort of bad hand, are determined to improve their lot in life, no matter the risks.

3.5 star read for me

I have to admit to purchasing a knock off pursue or two from vendors on the Lower East Side of New York, so the premise of Counterfeit was of immediate interest!
Winnie and Ava were briefly college roommates at Stanford. Winnie abruptly drops out after only two months and their paths don't cross until years later when Winnie tracks Ava down. At that point, Ava feels that she's not living her best life - she's 37, a former lawyer, married to a transplant surgeon, and the mother of a challenging 2 year old son.
In Part 1, we hear Ava's story, as being told to a detective. We start to hear more from Winnie in Part 2, as she starts to tell her version of their history and story. As you might expect, Counterfeit features many secrets and lots of lies. There are also some interesting glimpses into life in China, and especially eye opening scenes of conditions in a Chinese manufacturing plant.
Counterfeit is a fun read (with some slightly unbelievable situations) and the characters of Ava and Winne are nicely developed. The story is unique and might be especially interesting for people who are into high end handbags!
Thanks to Netgalley, HarperCollins and the Book Club Girl Early Read Program for the opportunity to read Counterfeit in exchange for an honest review!

Ava Wong has always played it safe. On paper, she has the perfect life: working as a lawyer, married to a surgeon and a wonderful nanny to help with her young son. That is until Winnie Fang, her former college roommate shows up in her life again. The once-awkward girl fresh from Mainland China that Ava knew was now a confident, stylish woman decked out in luxury goods and with a lucrative business proposal for her. Winnie has created a counterfeit scheme, working with manufacturers in China to create near-perfect replicas and she needs Ava’s help. That is until their operation is threatened and Winnie disappears, leaving Ava to face the consequences.

Mostly told through Ava’s point of view as she’s sharing her story to a detective that’s “off camera” (off page, I guess?), she paints the picture of the history she has with Winnie, and how this woman lead her into a life of crime. It’s an interesting look into the world of luxury goods, from manufacturing to retail to consumer. There were also, sadly, some familiar instances of micro-aggressions that get acknowledged differently by the two Asian women due to their environment and upbringing. The underlying theme of the importance of appearances in a variety of ways is woven throughout the story.

Understanding that this was perhaps a writing or editing style, but I found it challenging at times to distinguish when people were actually saying something or if it was Ava’s narration to the detective because there were no use of quotation marks. (TBC if that was just in the advanced e-copy I read and not in the final version) There were moments earlier on in the book that I was a bit wary about how this would play out, feeling like Ava was just going to be the Rachel to Winnie’s Anna Delvey but their dynamic was so much more nuanced and complex than that.

Overall Counterfeit had some great exposition in the pacing of the narrative with wonderfully satisfying revelations. This felt perfect for fans of Inventing Anna and other similar luxury scam or heist-type stories.

DNF

*sigh* I wanted to like this one. I really did! Especially since it’s by an Asian author and I love supporting them. But unfortunately, it was not for me.

As soon as I heard it was a Reese Pick (which was after I had already received an ecopy), I thought: ‘Oh no, I’m gonna hate this one”. I’ve only ever liked one of her book picks. Anyhoo..

I’m sorry, but this was a boring start and as soon as Ava started talking about Henri, she lost me. The writing wasn’t my style either. If anything, I was confused as to whether Ava was talking to herself or out loud.

A sudden re-emergence of a first semester college roommate, Winnie, upends Ava Wong's life. Ava is going through a challenging time with her young son and husband's career - Ava seems to have it all together.

As their friendship seems to grow, we're taken on a journey into a world of luxury, drama and more. Counterfeit is a guilty pleasure read that just sucked me in until the very end!

Thank you to William Morrow and Netgalley for the ARC.

4.5 stars

I started Kirsten Chen’s new novel Counterfeit on Friday and it was so engrossing that I nearly finished it in one sitting. Well-written and cleverly-structured, the story revolves around two Chinese-American women, Winnie Fang and Ava Wong, who become involved in a scheme selling counterfeit luxury handbags. As the story opens, it quickly becomes apparent that Ava is confessing her role in the scheme to a detective, while Winnie is somehow missing in action. Through Ava’s confession, we learn both her backstory as well as Winnie’s, with each chapter revealing more and more clues that help us eventually understand the course of events that led up to that moment. Later on however, the story switches to Winnie’s perspective and I will admit that, when I read her chapters, I started second-guessing some things that had been revealed earlier (and that’s all I’m going to say about it — you will need to read the book for yourself to find out what I’m talking about). The way the story was structured, plus the fast pace of the plot, definitely made for a fascinating read!

With all that said though, this wasn’t just a superficial story about a counterfeit handbag business gone awry. It actually went much deeper than that, as it also explored recent social, political, and economic issues such as anti-Asian sentiment, immigration and the American Dream, racism, the strained U.S.-China trade relationship, etc. It also dealt with Chinese cultural elements (as well as stereotypes) in ways that were insightful and respectful, yet not heavy-handed. Despite some of the serious themes, there was a lightheartedness to the story that made this a well-balanced read.

In terms of character development, I feel that Chen did a great job with both Winnie and Ava. Even though I disagree with their actions and the decisions they ultimately made, I was able to relate to the struggles they went through as Chinese women who grew up in traditional Chinese families. Ava especially resonated with me, as I recognized so much of her family dynamic in my own — i.e.: the pressure to choose a “prestigious” career path that ultimately leads to wealth, even if it’s not a career that I would want for myself (this quote sent shivers down my spine because it’s almost verbatim what I experienced: “…in my family there were only a few acceptable paths—law, medicine, engineering. Law was the one I’d disliked least. From the very beginning, I’d known my lot in life: to be good enough at my job, and to tolerate it until retirement.”); the expectation to be an overachiever in school (anything less than straight A’s was frowned upon) and maintain the image of the “good Chinese daughter” so as not to disappoint my immigrant parents who sacrificed so much for their children to have such opportunities; the cultural significance of “face” and the huge impact it has on how, as a Chinese woman, I’m supposed to live my life (another quote that applies almost verbatim to my own situation: “…but when you grow up as I did, schooled in the supremacy of “face”—the figurative face, the image, reputation, honor that must be fought for and preserved at all costs—breaking free from constraints to think for oneself becomes a Herculean task.“). One of the things I love about the reading experience is coming across characters whom I am able to relate to in some way (even if our life circumstances are completely different) and that certainly was the case here — this makes the time and effort spent reading this all the more worthwhile.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed this “fun” and engrossing read, but more than that, I also appreciated the fact that it was a welcome departure from the “heavier” books that I’ve read lately. Immediately after finishing this one, I put both of Kirsten Chen’s previous books on my TBR, though of course, I also look forward to what she might have in store next.

Received ARC from William Morrow via NetGalley.

“𝑨 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒗𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒃𝒂𝒈. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒃, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓𝒔.”

When attending a Spring/Summer preview with Harper Collins, Counterfeit was described as a con-heist of luxury handbags meets Crazy Rich Asians; I knew I needed to read it!

The story moves along very quickly, with the first part being told by Ava, recounting her involvement with Winnie to a detective. It reminded me a lot of Big Little Lies, with talking to the detective and trying to piece together what happened in the past. Knowing part of the storyline was about counterfeit luxury handbags, it was a lot of fun trying to figure out how they went from super successful to talking to the police! Winnie and Ava are self-involved, ruthless, and independent; I both rolled my eyes at some of the decisions and cheered them on. Chen’s prose flowed easily, making this a very quick and easy read. It was interesting to see how the luxury handbag industry works (and the counterfeit one). I also loved how this book is about the feeling of being stuck in a rut and trying to make the most of life. There was also a twist that made perfect sense, and yet I didn’t see it coming - in a story about conning, the reader realizes they too have been conned (in the best way!). I did feel like there were some dangling plot holes that could’ve been resolved (especially towards the end); at 288 pages, the book could’ve used a few more to flesh out some pieces, especially surrounding Ava’s relationship with her husband Ollie.

Counterfeit is a completely fun ride that would make the perfect beach read. It is a story about luxury, female friendships, and the lengths we go when we are feeling desperate. It would make for a great movie. A big thanks to Harper Collins and NetGalley for the ARC!

This book is perfect for summer reading and reminded me of Finlay Donovan. A lifetime ago two Asian American immigrants was roommates in college for only two short months. Only speaking twice in 20 years; having forged different paths of life. One, became an honest attorney through the guidance of strict parents, the other chose to live the American dream through her own ways.

These two women finding a way to make money off of luxurious fake handbags, also found much more about themselves that they never even thought imaginable.

Deliciously entertaining and I hope this dynamic duo returns for more.

What a great read! A must have for summer 2022 reading lists.

I’m left absolutely smitten with this story of two Asian American women who band together to grow a counterfeit handbag scheme into a global enterprise.

Described as a “stylish feminist caper”, this is a compelling and addictive book perfect for summer reading, “Counterfeit” is extremely well-paced and offers both a social commentary on the cultural differences between Asia and America as well fashion and friendship.

Although both main characters are equally flawed, Ava and Winnie are wonderfully fleshed. I suspect readers may mixed responses to these two literary women, but for me, I found them both absolutely delightful to read and know.

This book has all the cinematic vibes and would well make a film of TV series version offering some much needed Asian representation on the screen.

Sincere thanks to HarperCollins Canada and Netgalley for an advanced readers e-galley.

I really enjoyed the plot and it moved along quickly. Definitely kept my interest.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC.

I really loved the premise of this book. The first half was told as a police interview, which did "tell" a version of the story of what happened, but didn't fully "show" the reader, so it. felt a bit hard to get to know the characters. I did enjoy the book much more once the second half revealed more actions and dialogue as the two main characters, Ava (a "good girl" lawyer, wife and mother) and her college friend Winnie (a mysterious, multi-layered career, single woman) described how they began their business together, with each having a slightly different version that portrayed themselves in the best light, while causing the reader to have to determine who might be the more reliable of the unreliable narrators. Although the second half answered many of the pressing questions, while also providing a twist to the narrative, it felt a bit rushed, with many questions unanswered. What really happened in Ava's marriage? What caused Ava to really want to join Winnie in business (what about her dreams she had before she chose to become a lawyer out of duty to her parents?)? Had Ava and Winnie really been in contact ALL ALONG from college to when their business started and just no one else knew? I really wished there had been a bit more humor (there was potential, but I never felt it was "comical" as described ) along with more chances to get to know the characters better (Ava's husband, Ava's son, etc) and their motivations. I DO think this would make a great TV series as there would be more chances to flesh out the characters and stories and I also would look forward to reading a sequel featuring their new business, if there is one!

Counterfeit is sort of a combination of general fiction and women's fiction with a bit of a mystery aspect.

This book looks at the world of counterfeit luxury handbags.

The story focuses on two women who were college roommates at Stanford: Ava and Winnie.

Ava is a lawyer, now staying home with her problematic toddler. Winnie disappeared during college. And now comes back into Ava's life.

The counterfeit luxury handbag world was fascinating. The author gives us a very interesting look into this world. And I was intrigued.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part is from Ava's 1st person POV. She is talking to a detective telling her all about what happened with Winnie and the handbags. I didn't love that most of the story was simply Ava telling the detective what happened. Also the writing style with no quotation marks was very jarring.

This book includes secrets and lies. And the twists are what gave it a mystery feel to me.

Part two alternated between Ava and Winnie's 3rd person POV. I preferred part two as there was more happening. Overall this was an interesting concept for a book.

This book was so enjoyable! It was a fun, fast paced read. As someone who lusts after designer handbags it was an interesting topic as I know there is quite the underground industry around fakes. I thought the characters were great and really was rooting for Ava.